Post by mummifiedstalin on Aug 11, 2010 15:02:03 GMT -5
This is something that will probably interest only a few people. Still...
I was in a guitar store yesterday (Chicago Music Exchange...awesome place), and I was doing my usual run of acoustic stuff. So I'm doing one piece, and another guy comes over, looking skeptical. He asks me how I'm playing what I'm playing, and I tell him it's just an altered tuning thing.
He goes into a spiel about how he's always thought it was "cheating." He's a classical player, and the most he ever does is drop-D. I mention things like harp effect, where you can play melodies with sustain that you can never get in standard tuning, etc., etc. He just kinda scoffs and says things to the effect that a "real" player could do that with practice.
But it's not true. Take a common Celtic/traditional tuning: DADGAD. With only a whole step between the G/A on 3rd and 2nd strings, you can still play complex melodies but get the implication of a "drone" that mirrors pipes in ways that standard tuning can only get with the freakiest of arrangements. It also means that you can get harmonies that are almost impossible in standard if you're also trying to do normal carrying bass string riffs.
Anyway, whatever. I was just curious what the attitude is among any other guitarists on here. I honestly don't know how many altered tunings I use. I have some I use just for one song. Others, like double-drop-D, DADGAD, Open C, Open G (or slack key), are almost more common than standard in some circles. Then there's weird stuff like FBbDECD that tons of Italian guys use, all kinds of natural diminished stuff.
So...uh...you?
I was in a guitar store yesterday (Chicago Music Exchange...awesome place), and I was doing my usual run of acoustic stuff. So I'm doing one piece, and another guy comes over, looking skeptical. He asks me how I'm playing what I'm playing, and I tell him it's just an altered tuning thing.
He goes into a spiel about how he's always thought it was "cheating." He's a classical player, and the most he ever does is drop-D. I mention things like harp effect, where you can play melodies with sustain that you can never get in standard tuning, etc., etc. He just kinda scoffs and says things to the effect that a "real" player could do that with practice.
But it's not true. Take a common Celtic/traditional tuning: DADGAD. With only a whole step between the G/A on 3rd and 2nd strings, you can still play complex melodies but get the implication of a "drone" that mirrors pipes in ways that standard tuning can only get with the freakiest of arrangements. It also means that you can get harmonies that are almost impossible in standard if you're also trying to do normal carrying bass string riffs.
Anyway, whatever. I was just curious what the attitude is among any other guitarists on here. I honestly don't know how many altered tunings I use. I have some I use just for one song. Others, like double-drop-D, DADGAD, Open C, Open G (or slack key), are almost more common than standard in some circles. Then there's weird stuff like FBbDECD that tons of Italian guys use, all kinds of natural diminished stuff.
So...uh...you?